BLOOD VESSELS

• In the human circulatory system there is blood, heart, and blood vessels
• Blood flows to almost every single cell in the body through a network of vessels
• Types of blood vessels

  • Arteries
  • Veins
  • Capillaries
• Arteries


  Carry blood away from the heart to the organs, tend to carry oxygenated blood
• Veins


  Carry blood back to the heart from the organs, carry deoxygenated blood, have valves to prevent backflow
• Arteries


  • Have thick walls with muscle and elastic tissue, small lumen to maintain high pressure
• Veins


  • Have thin walls with little muscle or elastic tissue, large lumen to allow low pressure flow
• Capillaries


  Tiny blood vessels that carry blood to individual cells, have permeable walls to allow exchange of materials
• Major blood vessels supplying organs

  • Pulmonary artery and vein (lungs)
  • Hepatic artery, hepatic portal vein, hepatic vein (liver)
  • Renal artery and vein (kidneys)